“Islam Qala is now under our full control and we will try to put it back in operation today,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the militant movement, told AFP. On Thursday, an anonymous Afghan official told AP that the Taliban took over customs at the crossing point. Videos purportedly shot …
Read More »Taliban fighters storm capital of Afghan province, taking over police HQ and sparking mass prison break
Militants stormed the city of Qala-e-Naw on Wednesday morning before being cleared out by government forces around 4pm local time, the Ministry of Defense said in a Facebook post. Airstrikes were used to push the Taliban back and Afghan National Defense and Security Forces were also deployed to restore order …
Read More »20 years & not even a note?! US left Bagram Air Base in middle of the night without telling new Afghan commander – reports
“We [heard] some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram… and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed,” the base’s new commander, Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, told the Associated Press on Tuesday. The electricity had been shut off and the Americans gone for over …
Read More »Taliban captures key Kandahar district as Afghan troops suffer wave of defeats in wake of US withdrawal
The militant group took the Panjwai district following a fierce overnight battle with soldiers loyal to Kabul, AFP reported, citing regional officials. Panjwai District Governor Hasti Mohammad said government troops retreated from the area following the clashes, and that the Taliban had seized the district police headquarters as well as …
Read More »Over 300 Afghan troops fleeing from Taliban cross border to Tajikistan after heavy fighting, border forces tell media
More than a dozen districts, mostly in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan Province, have fallen into the hands of the Taliban over the past 24 hours, security sources told local outlet TOLOnews. The heavy fighting on the other side of the border was also confirmed by the military of neighboring Tajikistan. More …
Read More »‘We’re going to stick with you,’ Biden tells Afghan president at White House, promising ‘sustained’ partnership
“The partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is not ending. It’s going to be sustained,” Biden told his Afghan counterpart during a meeting in the White House on Friday, adding that “support for Afghanistan is not ending, in terms of support and maintenance of their – helping maintain their …
Read More »4 Afghan nationals jailed for 10 years over arson that destroyed Greece’s Moria migrant camp amid Covid-19 quarantine protests
The men were found guilty of arson with risk to human life, the court said in the verdict on Saturday. The defense claimed that their clients had been framed by a witness, saying that the ruling was “an inconceivable conviction without evidence.” The lawyers earlier filed a request for three …
Read More »‘Hundreds’ of photos show Aussie troops chugging beer from dead Afghan’s prosthetic leg, court is told
Several photographs of Aussie soldiers guzzling alcohol from the artificial limb were published in December, and became graphic displays of alleged gross misconduct by Australian troops stationed in Afghanistan. However, it now appears that the macabre drinking ritual, which purportedly took place at an underground bar located at an Australian …
Read More »The US withdrawal from Afghanistan presages the total collapse of the Afghan Army
After two decades and trillions of dollars dedicated to training the Afghan military to stand on its own two feet and prevail in combat against the Taliban and other Islamic insurgencies, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, was unable to provide a straight answer …
Read More »Skies above Kabul turn red as gas station catches fire outside Afghan capital (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)
The affected gas station was located in the Qala-e-Murad Bek area along the highway that connects Kabul with the country’s northern provinces, the Interior Ministry said. The blaze couldn’t be contained in time and spread onto a line of fuel trucks waiting to enter Kabul. The vehicles were being engulfed …
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